“A few minutes ago, a runaway spending train was about to leave the station in the South Carolina Senate. Senators on both sides of the aisle had successfully used the parliamentary rule of cloture to prematurely stop debate on the budget and to stop our efforts to fix what we think are some very bad spending habits. They were about to force a premature vote on the most massive budget in our state’s history, without any consideration of the cumulative effect of the hundreds of budget amendments that had passed in the preceding days or, more importantly, without allowing time for taxpayers to be informed as to how their money was being spent. And so we decided to apply the brakes; we voted to adjourn and to delay the vote on the budget in order to take our case directly to the people of South Carolina.
But while we were able to stop the spending train today, it revs up again next Wednesday. So between now and next Wednesday we will explain to the people of South Carolina what is wrong with this budget and what reforms are needed to how state government spends their money. And because the cloture invoked today was revoked by adjournment prior to a vote on the budget, we will also be able to continue debate on the budget in the Senate. Yes, other important bills must be passed this session — Voter ID, tort reform and illegal immigration, for example – and we are prepared to work day and night for the rest of this legislative session to ensure that they are. But the next few days must be about controlling runaway spending in state government. That is the heart of the problem today in South Carolina, and in America.” Lee Bright, Kevin Bryant, Tom Davis, Larry Grooms, Shane Martin, Phillip Shoopman, Danny Verdin

Forget the boys, these girls want to have fun without them!

My first attempt at fetal pain awareness was ruled out of order, however, a re-draft was within the boundaries of rule 24.

(DHEC: Fetal Pain Awareness)   (A)   The department must utilize at least one hundred dollars to prepare printed materials concerning information that unborn children at twenty weeks gestation and beyond are fully capable of feeling pain and the right of a woman seeking an abortion to ask for and receive anesthesia to alleviate or eliminate pain to the fetus during an abortion procedure. The materials must be provided to each abortion provider in the State and must be placed in a conspicuous place in each examination room at the doctor’s office. The materials must contain only the following information:

“Fetal Pain Awareness”
An unborn child who is twenty weeks old or more is fully capable of experiencing pain. Anesthesia provided to a woman for an abortion typically offers little pain prevention for the unborn child. If you choose to end your pregnancy, you have a right to have anesthesia or analgesic administered to alleviate the pain to your unborn child during the abortion.” (B)   The materials must be easily comprehendible and must be printed in a typeface large and bold enough to be clearly legible. 

This article references to S. 693, a bill that extends the appeal time frame to the Office of State Fire Marshall

Senate tweaks fire code law in response to audit by Matt Long on May 3, 2011

Sen. Kevin Bryant (R-Anderson) sponsored the bill. Businesses would have more time to appeal fire code violations under a bill heading through the South Carolina Legislature. It comes after an audit last year found the State Fire Marshal’s Office was “inconsistent” in how it enforced the code.

The Senate unanimously passed legislation last week that gives companies 30 days to appeal. Sen. Kevin Bryant (R-Anderson) explains the current law only gives them 24 hours.

Any small businessman will know that’s almost impossible, for someone to walk in unannounced (and) write a citation and you only get 24 hours to appeal.

Senators crafted the bill after a testy December hearing, when many businesses complained about what they considered “absurd” rules. Sen. Glenn Reese (D-Spartanburg) had requested a Legislative Audit Council audit after some of his constituents complained.

Bryant said the problem was that fire marshals weren’t properly interpreting the law.

I think we found the legislation’s pretty clean. It’s just a misinterpretation. That’s where the problem was.

Governor Nikki Haley appointed a new fire marshal, Adolf Zubia, to replace former Marshal John Reich earlier this year. Zubia promised legislators the problems would not continue under his watch.

Code violations that present an “imminent danger” would still have to be fixed right away. An example of such a violation could be if a business kept a gas can next to a propane water heater.

The bill now heads to the House.